Entrepreneurial Takeaways from Len Schlesinger

As many know, Len Schlesinger will be ending his term as 12th president of Babson College. The Summer Venture Program was fortunate to have him visit and interact with a live Q&A session with program participants. Here are some of President Schlesinger’s takeaways based on questions the entrepreneurs asked.

In order to be succeed, one has to be clear about the problems that he or she has to solve. It goes to the very basic step to ask oneself “is there any problem?” If an entrepreneur is defining himself or herself as a product or service, as oppose to a solution to a problem, it makes for an interesting conversation. Yet, it doesn’t make for great business.

Negotiating with co-founders regarding equity and other benefits can be an emotional dilemma vs an economic one. Since equity is divided based upon contribution on company, one has to value time that he or she spends in order to ask for reasonable amount of equity. Equity is a subject that often founders overvalue the company while others undervalue.

Everyone has good days and bad days, but passion is key. The issue is making sure if one really loves something, the ability to withstand highs and lows is just a part of equation of experiencing love. Entrepreneurs who are questioning whether they really love what they are working on or not and not passionate about their occasion, confidence drops. Entrepreneurs question about “does my job really worth it” at the end of the day.

President Schlesinger provided clear solutions for the dilemmas that entrepreneurs areexperiencing during the session. Although dilemmas are always popping up, entrepreneurs should proactively look for answers and continue developing in order to have success during the entrepreneurial experience.